22 THE WORLD'S BIRDS. 



chiefly in India ; but the Guira (Guira guira) of 

 South America has even laid and hatched young 

 in the London Zoological Gardens. They are easy 

 enough to rear, but the parasitic forms are slow in 

 learning to feed themselves. 



DISTRIBUTION AND IMPORTANT SPECIES. Cuckoos, of 

 which there are about a hundred and sixty species, 

 are found all over the world, but the great majority 

 are tropical ; those inhabiting temperate climates 

 migrate south in autumn, and thus it comes to pass 

 that our familiar species (Cuculus canorus) is at 

 one time or another to be found over most of 

 the Old World.- There are two well-marked types 

 in the family : first, the long-winged, short-legged 

 Tree-Cuckoos, which are parasitic in the Old World ; 

 in the New World the species of this type are not 

 parasitic ; secondly, the short-winged, strong- 

 legged Bush-Cuckoos, found in both worlds, but 

 only in hot climates, and never parasitic in either 

 hemisphere. 



The best known of the latter group are the " Crow 

 Pheasant " (Centropus sinensis) of India, a black 

 bird of the size and shape of a magpie, with chestnut 

 wings ; the Guira, or " White Ani," of South 

 America (Guira guira), pale streaky buff, with a 

 white tail crossed by a black bar, and the cele- 

 brated " Road-runner " of Mexico and California, 

 deep bronze-green, with white-edged plumage. 



Of the Tree-Cuckoos, our own species is, of course, 

 far the most familiar ; but in India the above- 

 mentioned Koel, black in the male and variegated in 

 the female, and parasitic on crows, is very well- 

 known, as also the " Brain-fever bird " (Hiero- 

 coccyx varius), which, in both young and adult 

 plumages, most closely resembles the Shikra or 

 Indian sparrow-hawk (Astur badius) ; this para- 

 sitizes various babbling-thrushes. In North 



